“Fight the good fight” – ‘A Quiet Place of Rest’
May 9, 2022 Love For His People ministry in Charlotte, NC USA
“Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.”1 Timothy 6:12
Historically, when navies were engaged in combat and one of the sides had reached a point of surrender, the common practice was to lower the flag (the ‘colors’) that identified the ship. Lowering the flag was equivalent to conceding defeat. But sometimes the ship’s captain would declare he had no intention of surrendering. In order to formalize commitment in a visible way, he would give the order to “nail the colors to the mast.” In other words, he was taking away all options of the flag being lowered. It was instead to be hammered into the ship’s very structure, impossible to be removed.
The battle would be fought and won, or all on board would die in the attempt.
C.T. Studd, A British missionary in the late 1800s and early 1900s, used this word picture in urging believers to commit themselves unreservedly to the call of Christ, no matter how difficult the work or what obstacles might be encountered: ‘Nail the colors to the mast! That is the right thing to do, and therefore, that is what we must do, and do it now. What colors? The colors of Christ, the work he has given us to do. Christ wants not nibblers of the possible but grabbers of the impossible, by faith in the omnipotence, Fidelity, and wisdom of the Almighty Savior ‘
As believers in Jesus Christ for today, it is time for us to decide. Against all opposition and unpopularity, we must “nail the colors to the mast, and “declaring a loyalty to God and His Word, reaffirming our whole-hearted commitment to live for His glory and fulfilling His calling. No turning back.
(from ‘A Quiet Place of Rest’)
